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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear the word “Kingdom” what comes to your mind? When you hear the words “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” what do you think of? Yesterday I left you on a mountainside in Israel with Jesus, Peter, James and John, about 2000 years ago, in a most unusual situation. Jesus was glowing so brightly they couldn’t look at Him! Why? God was speaking in such a powerful way, James, Peter and John’s lives would never be the same!
We began looking at this event yesterday, found in Matthew 17 and today let’s consider why suddenly two Old Testament heroes joined this unusual gathering?
Matthew records it this way: “Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John… and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” (Matt. 17:1-3) Now that is remarkable, illogical and unexplainable, isn’t it? Yesterday we discussed what the transfiguration of Jesus was and why it happened.
Today, let’s consider the bodily appearance of Moses and Elijah. Was it ‘reincarnation’ or ‘resurrection’ or ‘hallucination’ or maybe ‘hologram’? What is a ‘hologram’? It’s a three dimensional projection of an image through laser light beams. It is often used in science fiction movies or even certain hi-tech live projections. I can assure you this event with Elijah and Moses was NOT a ‘hologram’.
Was it ‘hallucination’? Were Peter, James and John only imagining they saw these two historical figures? NO, this was real, for Moses and Elijah were alive, standing before them, speaking with Jesus and the disciples could both see and hear them! “Reincarnation”, while a word and a religious belief by some people, is not a Biblical fact. Deceased human beings do not return to earth in some other form and live another life.
“Resurrection” is a Biblical and historical fact, and eventually EVERY person who has ever lived will be resurrected to eternal life with a glorified body. (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:13) But in this case, while the ‘bodies’ of Moses and Elijah were something like what Jesus had when He was raised from the dead, this particular event was NOT a resurrection for Moses and Elijah. How do I know? When all deceased humans receive our eternal bodies in our FUTURE resurrection, those bodies will last forever. That resurrection has not yet taken place; thus, Moses and Elijah have not yet received their eternal bodies and I presume God gave to the ‘spirit/soul’ of both Moses and Elijah miraculous BODIES something like angels have when they come to earth briefly.
So, what happened here? Moses had died about 1450bc, and Elijah had ‘died’ about 850bc, but neither of them had died normal deaths. Deuteronomy 32 tells us God gave Moses these final instructions: “Go up…to Mount Nebo…and view Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die.” (Deut. 32:49,50) Deuteronomy 34:5 says “And Moses the servant of the LORD died there…as the LORD had said. God buried Moses…but to this day no one knows where his grave is.”
It was God’s way of drawing Moses’ remarkable earthly life to a close privately, without ceremony or fanfare. And while the Israelites mourned for 30 days, there is no special place to which people take pilgrimages to honor the death or burial place for Moses. Exactly how God ended Moses’ life, we do not know, but it was a private encounter between Moses and God, just like his burning bush calling had been a private encounter between them. (exodus 3)
Did you know the prophet Elijah was swept up to heaven in a whirlwind? 2 Kings 2 tells us the prophets Elijah and Elisha “…were walking along the road together and talking when suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” (2 Kings 2:11) Again that exact location is not known or revered by Israel nor are there pilgrimages to this place. We know it was not far from the Jordan river, which they had just crossed. (2 Kings 2:8-10). But as Elijah was swept up in that whirlwind, Elijah’s body was not left behind in his departure.
So, both Moses and Elijah did not die normal human deaths, but that in itself is not why I believe they qualify for this Mount of Transfiguration experience recorded in Matthew 17. I believe it is because of WHO these men were as revered prophets of Old Testament Israel and how God had used them to reveal God’s truth, God’s power, and God’s purposes to the people of their day, both Israelites and other people.
I assume Jesus introduced them to Peter, James and John, for they would not otherwise have known these two men. Certainly they weren’t wearing name tags! I presume the prophets appeared in bodily form but those bodies were special, God made bodies, perhaps very similar to the eternal bodies they and we will have, and similar to what Jesus had after His resurrection. They appeared and then disappeared by God’s power. They came from the place where they had been with God since their death, and they returned to that place after this brief experience. I believe that to be the same “paradise” to which Jesus promised the thief on the cross would go the very moment he died. (Luke 23:43)
Regardless of what type of special body God gave deceased Moses and Elijah for this miraculous experience the larger question is WHY? We have no record of anything Moses or Elijah said that day, no special message from God the Father for the disciples. Nor did they do anything or leave anything behind when they left. So WHY their miraculous, even mystical appearance? I believe the key is what Matthew records that Jesus had said a few days before to His disciples: “I tell you some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matt. 16:28) I believe what happened in that experience on that mountainside was the brief VISIBLE evidence of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God and Son of Man, in His kingdom!!
Now consider this my friends: a kingdom requires a King and qualified citizens of that King’s kingdom. Here on this hillside, the kingdom of Jesus was briefly visible in this way:
* The KING of the kingdom is Jesus Christ and He was seen in His radiant, transfiguration, Kingdom glory! The glory with which HE is reigning in heaven now and will reign for all eternity.
The glory He had before He came and was born in Bethlehem… (John 17:5) The glory in which this King will someday return to earth to reign in His millennial earthly kingdom! (Rev. 19:11-16)
* The CITIZENS of the kingdom of Jesus are ALL those, from all time, past, present and future, who are Redeemed by Jesus and will experience eternity with God. They were all represented on the hillside that day! How do I see that?
1st… For all those human beings who lived BEFORE Jesus died His atonement death and was raised from the dead, their ‘salvation’ is by God crediting to them the Righteousness of Jesus because of their FAITH in God, as Abraham experienced. (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:20-25) Elijah and Moses are two prime examples of these “Old Testament saints” of the Kingdom.
2nd… For all those human beings who live during the ‘church age’, which is the time between the resurrection of Jesus and the rapture of the Church, (1 Thess. 4:13-18) our salvation is based upon our FAITH in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ being sufficient for God to Redeem us. That’s the Gospel, isn’t it? (Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 8:1; John 3:16) And the three disciples standing there on the hillside that day represented we the “church age” citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus.
3rd… The final category of citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus will be those Redeemed by Jesus between the Rapture of the Church and the final judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15) and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth of Rev. 21. Those people will be Redeemed by the same FAITH in Jesus Christ and his finished work of redemption through His death and resurrection. On the hillside that day Jesus represented these citizens for they are yet future, and Jesus will redeem them during those future years.
Now we need to pause right here. Was this a glimpse, a very temporary view of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and those who will live for all eternity, in our resurrected bodies with Jesus and all the angels, in God’s presence for all eternity future, in the Kingdom of Jesus? Was God bringing to a focus, in that transfiguration miracle, all the prophecies about Jesus and His supremacy over all things, and His being the KING of the Kingdom of God?
Let’s ponder that majestic thought with this song and this question: are you a citizen of the Kingdom of God and are you sure you’ll be with Jesus, Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah and all citizens of Jesus’ kingdom, forever? Let’s worship and I’ll meet you here on this hillside tomorrow for more…
Today’s Scripture: Matt. 17:1-8.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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